Stop-motion device



June l9, 1928. 1,674 388 w. c. CAMPBELL STOP MOTION DEVICE Filed April 17, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet. 1

IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEY STO-P MOTION DEVICE Filed April 17, 1926 s Sheets-Sheet 2 a l' N k) k A 2 ll M m I; n

INVENTOR. W'l llz'e C'lzfl CampbelL BY 15 45M ATTORNEY June 19, 1928.

w. c. CAMPBELL STOP MOTION DEVICE Filed April 17, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet g Q a I N VEN TOR. Wlze Cliff C'am nbel A TTORNEY Patented June 19, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIE CLIFT CAMPBELL, OF SODDY, TENNESSEE, .ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM S. MILLS, OF TRUMBULL. CONNECTICUT.

STOP-MOTION DEVICE.

Application filed April 17, 1926.

This invention relates to an auttnnatic stop motion device for sewing machines or the like. and which is set into action by material being operated upon, as, for example, by pieces or portions of knit fabric passing to a stitching entity to be there joined at their edges by means of a seam or chain of stitches.

Machines now in use for uniting the edges of knit fabric are customarily equipped with revolving rings of impaling pins adapted to carry the fabrics to stitching entities which unite said edges. the revolving ring of a machine being either intermittently or continuously rotated. An operator of a machine places the fabric upon the inipaling pins manually so that the loops of the adjacent edges of two pieces or portions of the fabric will be joined by a scam or chain of stitches made by the stitching entity, and it is common practice to provide a severing knife situated in the path of the impaled fabric as it travels toward the stitching entity to trim the edges to be joined. A skilled operator can but inaccurately situate the fabric upon the impaling pins. and frequently, the severing knife of a machine fails to properly function, with the inevitable result that the edges of the fabric to be joined are improperly presented to the stitching entity. thus often causing the machine to be clogged. and damaging the fabric. as well as the machine parts.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide a stop motion device which is set into action to stop a machine by fabric or other material being operated upon, when the fabric or other material would otherwise be improperly presented to a stitching entity to be liable to clog the machine and cause damage.

More specifically. it is the object of the invention to provide a stop motion device which is set into action to stop a machine by material (such. for example. as two pieces or portions of knit fabric pinned in the machine) to receive a seam or chain of stitches to join the adjacent edges of said material, when said edges would otherwise be presented to a stitching entity of the machine in a manner not intended and liable to cause damage.

With the above objects in view. as well as others which will appear as the specification proceeds, the invention comprises the con- Serial No. 102,783.

struction, arrangement, and combination of parts now to be fully described and as hereinafter to be specifically claimed, it being umlerstood that the disclosure herein is merely illustrative and meant in no way in a limiting sense, changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts being permissible so long as within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, 7

big. l a top plan view of one type of machine for uniting knit fabrics. disclosing the novel stop motion device as when employed in connection with said. machine;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the machine and device;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view detailing the stop motion device of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view detailing a modified fori'n of stop motion device having the features of the invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the machine there disclosed, and selected purely for the purpose of illustration. comprises a stationary bed plate 10, provided with an upwardly and outwardly projecting supporting arm 11. The arm [1 tern'unates III a bearing head 12 carrying a vertical shaft 13. and a stationary supporting disc or dial plate 14. The disc or plate 14 may be provided with the usual ring 15 carrying a peripheral series of outwardly extending impaling pins 16. The loops of fabric to be united are placed over the impaling pins 16 in a well known manner, and the ring of impaling 'pins is given in a revolving movement, the

movement being continuous and uniform as disclosed.

The machine adapted to be driven by a belting communicating with a suitable source of power and passing over a driving pulley 17 carried upon a driving shaft 18, said driving shaft being mounted in a bearing head 19 of the bed plate 10 and passing through a suitable bearing opening in the rear portion of the supporting arm 11. The driving shaft 18 is provided with a crank 20 for manual operation and is adapted to be thrown into gear with the driving pulley 17 by means of a slidably mounted clutch member 21 adapted to be operated by means of a clutch operating handle or lever 22, in a well known manner.

rving a shaft 26. said shaft receiving its 5110-- tion by means of a bevel gear 2.4 me hing with a hcvel gear on the driving sha t l3.

"he shaft carrying arm or member :23 provided at its outer or fi'ee end with a worm gear 29 normally meshing with a gear wheel 3t). The gear wheel St) is arried upon one end of a shaft Pl. said aha ft being mounted in de icnding bearings beneath the tationarv supporting disc or dial plate H. The shaft 31 is provided at one end with a pinion 33 meshing with a rack (not shown) on the underside of the ring carrying the impaling pins 16. \Vhen the worm gear is in mesh with the gear wheel it is ap parent that the gearing described will im part a revolving motion to the ring to and the impaling pins to.

Reference numeral S t r prewn s. generally. a stitching entity to which fabri im paled upon the pins 16 is adapted to be carried in such manner that said stitching entity can preferably join the loops of adjacent edges of pieces or portiom of said fabric. indicating. generally. actuating mechanism for said stitching entity. The stitching entity 34 and the mechanism 35 can be of any suitable construction for their urpose and operated in any convenient way. orming no part of the present invention. 36 is a severing knife situated in the path of the impaled fabric as it travels towa d the stitching entity. said knife being t'or the purpose of trimming the edges of the fabric to be joined so that said edges will be presented in desired manner to the stitching entity.

The machine as disclosed includes a stop motion device which is set into action by a knot or lump in the thread before such knot or lump arrives at a point where it might cause damage. for example. where it can break or bend a needle. Of this stop motion device, 37 denotes a bracket; or support which may be attached to a work bench conveniently adjacent to the machine disclosed, or to any other machine in connection with which the stop motion device is to be used, said bracket having an upright :18 and a standard 39 affording beaiings for a rock-- shaft 40 provided at its forward end. inside of upright 38. with an arm 41 carrying a plate 42 provided with a curved slot 43 en tered by a pin 4-1 at the lower end of a latch lever 45 pivoted to said upright 38 as at to and having a beveled or rounded upper end adapted to be engaged by a finger 47 on a holdin latch 48 fixed to a tripping rockshaft 49 journalled in bearings afforded upwardly projecting lugs 50 at the upper end of the upr ght 58.

The lower wall of the curved slot 3 i:. turned down slightly at one end affording a notch at which receives the pin t t whe: parts are in uorking position. said pin being moved into said notch when the parts are being set by manual manipulation of the rockshaft 4t) for the normal operation of the machine. An arm fixed on said rockshaft and a clutch shi 'ij'iing rod 53 pivoted to said arm are for the purpose of manipulating the rockshaft to move the arm at of the latch lever to inward behind the finger 41'' ot' the holding latch 48 to set the parts in the position they occupy when the machine is running, actuation of the rockshaft, clearly. being imparted to said latch lever 45 through the instrun'ientality of the slotted plate l2 engaged by the pin 44'.

A second tripping rocksha't't in the lugs :30 carries a tripping arm 55 having a nar row slit 56 pe. uitting the free passage of the threads but not of knots or lumps in the threads. so that said tripping arm 55 will be tripped or moved downwardly slightly when engaged by a knot or lump in a thread. The slit 56 has a shape adapted to facilitate the entrance of a thread to said slit and to serve, in conjunction with the thread guides 57 and 58. arranged on opposite sides of the tripping arm 55. to permit the escape of the knots or lumps from said tripping arm 55 when the latter is moved downward in the tripping operatioi'i. thereby avoiding breaking the thr ad by the machine. which is objectionable. even though the thread has to be broken by the attendant to remove the knot or lump.

The holding latch 48 normally held in yielding contact with an adjustable stop pin 59 tapped in a lug (it) on the upright 25S and held in any desired position of adjustment by a lock nut til. 'lhis holding of the latch 48 against the top of the pin 59 effected by a coil spring 62 connected at its upper end to an arm ea on the rockshaft and corn nected at its lower end to a lug (not shown) on a bracket preferably adjustably attached to the upright :38 by a set screw passing through a slot in said b acket. The holding latch 48 has an extension 64 which is situated at the side of the tripping arm 55 adjacent the thread guide 58. in engagement with a considerable part of the face of said trip ping arin See Figs. 2 and 3.

An arm 65 tixed on the rockshaft 40 is suitably connected by means of a pivot (56 to an arm t3? upon a rockshaft 8 mounted in a bracket 69 fixed on the bed plate 10 and comprising a base piece and standards 70. An arm Tl fixed upon the roekshaft 68 has a pin 72 which enters a circumferential groove 73 in the slidable clutch member 21.

ltlti A coil spring T4 upon the rockshaft 40 and fixed at one of its ends to the standard 39 and at its other end 7a to said rockshaft 10 normally urges the rockshaft 40 to rotate in direction to urge the slidabtc clutch member 21 away fronrthc driving pulley. as will be understood. \fhrn. however. the device is set. in the manner fully stated. the slidable clutch member engages the driving pulley so that the machine operates. the latch 18 holding th latch lever to to insure that the pin 44 will lie in the notch :31 of the plate 42. to normally lock the rocle hat't t0 against actuation by the coil spring 74. which spring is. naturally. given additional tension when the device is set.

From the foregoing it will be understood. that when the arm is tripped. either by a lump or knot in the thread. or otherwise. (as. for example. by mechanism not shown which actuates when a thread breaks. or in a manner presently to be described). the extension ('54 is moved to lift the holding latch -18 and to cause the tinger if to release the latch lever 45 thereby allowing the coil spring 74 upon the rockshaft 40 to swing said latch lever -15) to cause the pin it to be released from the notch 51. And when the pin 44- is clear of the notch 51. the coil spring T t rotate-1 said rockshaft 40 to its position removing the slidable clutch member away from the driving pulley 17. as will be ob vious. thereby stopping or arresting the movement 01' the driving shaft 18 of the machine.

Numeral represents a lever pivotally mounted upon the side edge of the disc or plate 1t and having an arm 78 extending horizontally directly above the impaling pins 10 and knitted fabric or other material upon said impaling pins and moving toward the stitching entity. the arm 78 preferably being situated between the knife 30 and the stitching entity. The other arm 79 of the lever 77 has pivoted to it a dcsiral'ily adjustable link 80 which secured to a tripping rod 81 itself pivoted to the upright 38 as at 02 and having an angular upper end 83 in engagement with the "ace of the tripping arm 55 which is adjacent the thread guide 57. The adjustable link. as disclosed. comprises two pieces of wire slidable in a col ar 84 and adapted to be fixed in said collar as by a set screw 85. The end of the wire of the adjustable link pivoted to the lever 77 iacludes a hook fitted into an opening in the arm 79. The other end of said adjustable link includes a hook which engages an eye 86 of the tripping rod 81. which tripping rod is itself a suitably bent length of wire.

The arm 78 of the lever 77 is at elevation above which knitted fabric or other material to be properly operated upon by the stitching entity should not extend. and fabric or material upon the impaling pins and moving toward the stitching entity with edges to be joined and extending above the elevation of the lower face of the arm 78 will evidently, throw said arm 78 from right toward left in the drawing. thus swinging the other arm T0 of the lever 71' in opposite direction and causing the link 80 to actuate the tripping rod 81 against the tripping arm 55 to displace said arm 55 and remove the clutch in the fashion hereinbefore fully set forth.

it will be seen that fabric or other material fed in the mach ne and situated to be presented to the stitching entity thereof in a manner not intended and liable to cause damage. will effectually set the stop motion device of the present invention into action.

it will be understood that the invention illustrated and described may be utilized in connection with a variety of types of machines different from the machine and the type of machine disclosed. and that the stop motion device invented by me can consist of a variety of contrivances each ditferent from the contrivance hereinbcfore fully de-- s ribed. one of which different eontrivances is illustrated in Fig. 4.

In said Fig. 4. 77' is a lever pivoted upon the edge of the disc or plate 14 and having arms 78 and 79'. 17 a driving pulley. 21 a slidable clutch member. and 10' is a bed plate. all of which mentioned parts may be the full equivalents of the similar parts heretofore mentioned. The operable connection between the arm 79 and slidable clutch member 21 is made as follows: 87 is a lever pivoted at 88 upon a bracket 89 fixed upon the bed plate. 90 is an end of said lever 87 situated in a groove of the slidable clutch mcn'iber. 91 is a connecting rod pivoted at one of its ends 92 to the lever 87 and having its other end 93 preferably a'djustably secured to an arm 94 of a lever 95 itself pivotally supported upon a leg 06 of a piece of V metal fixed to the bed plate 10' as at 97. The other leg 99 of the V piece of metal pivotally supports. as at 99. a small L-shaped lever the short arm 100 of which is rigidly attached to a connecting arm 101 pivoted as at 102 to the arnr79 of the lever 77'. The longer arm 103 of the small L-shaped lever extends toward an arm 104 of the lever 95. and said arm 104 has its free end portion 105 fitted back of the arm 103 of said L-shaped lever. A coil spring 100 secured to the bed plate 10' as at 107 and to the arm 104 as at 108 tends to urge said arm 104 in direction to remove the clutch from the driving pulley in a manner which is obviousv Action of the coil spring is resisted by the longer arm 103 of the small L-shaped lever so long as the lever '77 is positioned as in Fig. 4. the action of the spring 106 tending to swing the arm 79 being in direction tending to cause said arm 79' to move directly away from the pivot of said lever 77'. However, fabric or ma,-

terial moving against the arm 78 of said lever 77 and moving said arm from right toward left in said Fig. 4, swings the shorter arm of the small L lever from left toward right. as will be clear. and, naturally. swings the longer arm 103 away from the end portion 105 of the arm 10% oil' the lever 5);). thus leaving said coil spring 106 free to operate to remove the clutch. The present device can be reset by swinging the lever Ti" in reverse direction to cause the arm 102} to swing inwardly toward the bed plate to be. clear of the tree end portion 105 of the arm 104, and by then swinging the arm lot outwardly and making it engage back ot the longer arm 1% ot' the L-shaped lever.

Vhat I claim is:

1. The combination with the driving shaft of a machine having a stitching entity for operating upon material. of a stop motion device for said shaft, and tripping 11 ans for controlling said stop motion device. said tripping means comprising a member adapted to be positively actuated by said material as it advances toward said stitching entity to stop the machine.

2. The combination with the driving sha ft of a machine having a stitching entity for joining adjacent edges of material, of a stop motion device for said shaft, and tripping means for controlling said stop motion device. said tripping means comprising a member adapted to be actuated by said adjacent edges of material as they are advancing toward said stitching entity to stop the machine.

$3. The combination with the driving shaft ot a machine having a stitching entity for producing a seam adapted to join adjacent edges of fabric. impaling pins adapted to hold said fabric in the machine and relatively to the stitching entity, and means for advancing the impaling pins together with l'abrie thereon to said stitching entity, of a stop motion device for said shaft, and tripping means l or controlling said stop motion device, said tripping means comprising a member adapted to be situated adjacent said impaling pins to be actuated by 't'ahrio held thereby when said labrie would otherwise present itselt' to said stitching entity in such manner as to be liable to cause damage.

Signed at Soddy in the county of Hamilton and State of 'lennessee this 24th day of March, A. l)., 1926.

\VILLIE CIJlB l CAMPBELL. 

